Founded 45 years ago, Vinitaly is an international exhibition of wines and spirits—and olive oil. A couple days are open to the public, while several days are reserved for professionals such as buyers, distributors and winemakers.

The sign outside the entrance to the winery of Angelo Gaja, in the Piedmontese village of Barbaresco, says volumes in little: Gaja—four letters on a square plaque, gray on gray, like a cornerstone on a civic monument.